The author of bestsellers on food (Stuffed and Starved) and economics (The Value of Nothing), Patel is working on a new multimedia project with award-winning documentary filmmaker Steve James, the director of “Hoop Dreams” and “The Interrupters.” The “Generation Food” project http://generationfoodproject.org/ will show how ordinary people around the world are overcoming obstacles and “setting the table” for themselves, their communities, and generations to come using better, smarter ways of growing food and feeding the world than the industrial agriculture system.

The week’s activities raise money for two local nonprofit groups. Urban Roots http://www.urbanrootsatx.org/ uses sustainable agriculture as a means to transform the lives of young people and increase access to healthy food in Austin. The Sustainable Food Center http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/ works to strengthen the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food through managing three of the area’s largest farmers markets and the Grow Local, Farm Direct, Happy Kitchen, and Sprouting Healthy Kids programs.